I am studying northern elephant seals, Mirounga angustirostris, at Año Nuevo State Reserve for my research. I am am interested in a broad range of ecological questions including how northern elephant seals may accumulate contaminants over the course of their foraging trips,
their impact on prey populations and how their foraging locations and movements align with other upper-trophic level marine species in the north Pacific.

My research experience and work as a naturalist and science educator have provided me insight into a variety of diverse ecosystems with a focus on upper trophic-level predators.
I began the fieldwork component of my ecological career while studying abroad in Africa as an undergraduate. I spent time at the Botswana Wild Dog research camp, where I conducted their yearly ungulate census
and helped in the tracking and observation of wild-dogs. I then transitioned gears to conduct research in Sweden for my undergraduate thesis on the specific visual and olfactory cues that a small solitary bee species uses
to find the host-plant on which it specializes. After graduating from Whitman College, I worked for over a year as a naturalist in the San Juan Islands of Washington and a science
instructor at the Ocean Institute in Dana Point, CA. The Ocean Institute is a non-profit marine institute in southern California where kindergarten through community college students
come for marine-based science laboratory and boat programs. I then obtained my Masters degree in Washington studying the movements, home ranges, haul-out site fidelity and abundance of harbor seals,
Phoca vitulina, in the Salish Sea. While in graduate school, I was able to spend portions of my summers in southeast Alaska working as the naturalist on a boat that conducted weeklong nature cruises with
just a dozen passengers. After finishing my Master's degree I was thrilled to get a position studying gray wolves in Yellowstone National Park, working for Dr. Doug Smith.
I was part of two winter predation studies and one summer predation study, quantifying the kill-rates and identifying prey selection of gray wolf packs in the northern range of Yellowstone NP.
I then transitioned back towards the marine environment while working for USGS on an avian research project in south San Francisco Bay. Now I am here in Santa Cruz and back to marine ecology for my own research!

Hardee, S.E. Harbor seal movements and hot-spots in the Georgia Basin revealed through the use of satellite-telemetry. Annual Meetings of the NW Student Chapter
of the Marine Mammal Society. Oral Presentations. 2007 & 2008.